Hey everyone, I took the JLPT N2, but I didn’t pass because of the 読解 (dokkai) section. I had already heard people saying that it’s necessary to read a lot, and I’m constantly reading – I’ve already read 3 novels, among other things – but still, my score wasn’t enough to pass.
I also saw people giving tips about taking the exam in reverse order, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.
I would appreciate it if someone could give me some advice.
4 comments
i’ve had the same problem
the common solution is to read the questions first and then skim for the answers, rather than trying to read the entire essay
3 novels is not a lot…
I passed N2 reading pretty much exclusively due to reading a lot of children’s and YA novels in Japanese (about 85 of them at the time). I don’t think there’s any amazing trick to it except to be good enough at reading that you can understand the text, and the best way to improve reading is to read a lot.
I’m a really slow reader in all languages unfortunately and I’ve failed the reading section twice even though I read at an N1 level (academic papers etc.). I finally passed when I learned to skim in Japanese like I can in English, read the questions then look for answers in the text (mostly looking at kanji only). I still mess up but I was able to get a passing grade after I started skimming!
Just passed N2 and only had 2 months to study for it. Nihongo Soumatome and reading practice questions on jtest4you is all I used, and it got me a decent score on the reading section. The Soumatome book will give you some good tips on what to look out for in the passage, how to retrieve information, etc. I highly recommend the series.